1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: Yesterday, by a razor thin margin, the House of Representatives 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: passed a sweeping bill to remake the American health insurance system. 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: Among other things, the bill would eliminate the individual mandate 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: to have insurance, changed the way insurance companies can charge 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: people with pre existing conditions, make major changes to Medicaid, 6 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 1: and provide a large tax cut that critics say would 7 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: predominantly benefit the wealthy. As the issue of health insurance 8 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: now moves to the Senate, one question will be what 9 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: impact the bill would have on insurance companies, hospitals, and 10 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,640 Speaker 1: other healthcare providers. Here to talk with us about the 11 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 1: implications of this bill are to Bloomberg News reporters Drew Armstrong, 12 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: who covers health for Bloomberg News, and and Anderson, who 13 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: covers politics, and they're both here to talk to us 14 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: about the House of Representatives bill. Drew, this bill is 15 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: kind of been a hanging over the heads of the 16 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: insurance industry for a while now, and now we know 17 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: what has passed, or at least we think we know 18 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: what has passed, assuming everybody's read it well, How is 19 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: the insurance industry reacting to the possibility that this might 20 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 1: become long? Yeah, you know, it's actually been really interesting 21 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: because the insurance industry has been reacting not only to 22 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: this bill, but also the entire process going on in Washington. 23 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: You know, I mean, I think the expectation was, if 24 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: you rewind a year ago, you know a lot of 25 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: people are thinking, hey, Hillary Clinton is going to be president, 26 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 1: Obamacare is going to stick around, And all of a sudden, 27 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: we're in this period where, you know, the first part 28 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: of that's definitely not true, and the second part is 29 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: about Obamacare is really uncertain. And yet these guys are 30 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: in some ways stuck in this system and they're trying 31 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,199 Speaker 1: to figure out, Okay, is Congress going to take away 32 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: large parts of this program or is there going to 33 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: be parts of this where you know, Obamacare kind of 34 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: sticks around but gets undermined, and if so, how do 35 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: we deal with that. So one of the things you're 36 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 1: seeing happen in the insurance industry right now is people 37 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: look at what are they going to do in They're 38 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 1: raising rates, they're pulling out of markets, They're doing everything 39 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: they can to build in, you know, protect themselves financially 40 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: from a from a program that in for a lot 41 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: of these guys has been really unstable. We see most 42 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: of the major four part off a publicly traded insurce 43 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: already largely pull out of pull out of Obamacare. And 44 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: I think that they're looking at this, at the Republican 45 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: bill and saying, Hey, if this thing becomes law, there's 46 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 1: gonna be less money in the program, There's gonna be 47 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: less people in the program. This is probably not a 48 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: great deal for us, and it probably further destabilizes these 49 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: Obamacare markets that everybody's complaining, been complaining are really hard 50 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: for them to make work from a business perspective, probably 51 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: makes it even more difficult for them to play in here. 52 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: So I think you're going to see a further pullback 53 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: from the insurance industry um than we already have. And 54 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: there's kind of ongoing right now as we speak. Anna. 55 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:40,240 Speaker 1: What was the most difficult of the revisions to get through, Well, 56 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 1: it's hard to tell because the Republican Conference is so divided. 57 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: You had conservative members that had different concerns than the 58 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: more moderate members. So some conservatives, especially in the far 59 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,679 Speaker 1: right Freedom Caucus, we're saying that this doesn't go far enough. 60 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: It's not a full repeal. We need to just wipe 61 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: the slate clean of Obamacare and start over. Force Democrats 62 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: to come to the table bill and work with us 63 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: to fix the American health care system. Whereas moderates were saying, 64 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of the Obamacare provisions are popular 65 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,239 Speaker 1: in my district. You know, have constituents that have benefited 66 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: from this, so they were a bit more wary of 67 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: completely gutting the Medicaid expansion and doing away with some 68 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: of the protections for people with pre existing conditions. So 69 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: that's what made it so hard to get this bill 70 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: passed through the House, is because they were trying to 71 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: craft a piece of legislation that's satisfied very different ideological aims. 72 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: Due one thing that's kind of interesting about all of 73 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:34,519 Speaker 1: this is that hospitals actually ended up in a good 74 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: place with Obamacare from one perspective, because now more people 75 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: had insurance, and so they didn't have to cover the 76 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,119 Speaker 1: costs of as many uninsured people coming in to say 77 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: emergency rooms. How are hospitals reacting to all of this, Well, 78 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: you bring up a really interesting point, actually, because I 79 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: want to compare what happens to hospitals and what happens 80 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: to insurers. You know, under these very scenarios and the 81 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: difficulties that both of these guys have been not feeling 82 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: under the law. Okay, if you're insured, you're basically a 83 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: bunch of guys in an office in Connecticut, and if 84 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: something goes wrong for you, you can basically say, all right, 85 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: you know, let's pick, we're gonna pull up stakes and 86 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: get out of this market or that market where things 87 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: have been a little difficult for us. We don't think 88 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: we can play in Obamacare this year. All right, we'll 89 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: shut these plants down, we'll pull out. If you're a hospital, 90 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: you are a brick and mortar building with tons of labor, 91 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: with tons of fixed costs. It's not exactly like you 92 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,039 Speaker 1: can put that hospital on a truck and moving into 93 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: a more favorable market. You've still got to take care 94 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: of people whether or not they're covered. You've still got 95 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: to take care of people, whether or not they've got 96 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 1: good insurance. So, you know, the hospitals are the folks 97 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: who have really been suffering in this there the stocks 98 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: have been highly volatile. You look at how they've treated 99 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 1: up and down with every kind of new twist and 100 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 1: turn in this and that's because the burden is going 101 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,840 Speaker 1: to fall to them. Sick people aren't going anywhere. The 102 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: question is do they have insurance or not. In the 103 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,160 Speaker 1: bargain that these guys made was, Hey, we're going to 104 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: give up a lot of money that the federal government 105 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: currently gives us. Now in return, you're gonna cover all 106 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:55,280 Speaker 1: these folks under medicaige. You're gonna get folks on new 107 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: Obamacare insurance plans. That's gonna be good for us. You 108 00:04:58,000 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: take all that away, all of a sudden, you've got 109 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: the people. They're still showing up at the e er. 110 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: They're still costing the hospital's money. Unlike the insurance, they 111 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: can't just say we're not going to take care of 112 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: those people. Part of the deal is if you're a hospital, 113 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: somebody shows up at the emergency room door, you're taking 114 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: care of them. You're not necessarily going to get paid 115 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: for those people. You know, I might not get paid 116 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: all the money you need to get paid for those people. 117 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:19,599 Speaker 1: So the hospitals are really the ones who are in 118 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: a very tight spot here. Well, our thanks to Drew 119 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: Armstrong and an adjutant of Bloomberg News for being with 120 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 1: us today. Coming up on Bloomberg Law, we're gonna talk 121 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: about what happens when this issue gets to the Senate.